Riser card capable of being flexibly configured

Abstract

The invention discloses a Riser card capable of being flexibly configured, which supports three PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) Slot slots and is additionally provided with a golden finger edge connector and two high-speed MCIO (Multi-Chip Input / Output) connectors, one PCIe Slot slot is located at the lowest layer and is connected with the golden finger edge connector; the other two PCIe Slot slots are positioned on the uppermost layer and the middle layer and are respectively connected with the mainboard through the two high-speed MCIO connectors; and the Riser card configures two PCIe Slot slots connected with the high-speed MCIO connector in the Riser card according to the setting of a PCIe channel in a basic input / output system or a bottom plate management controller, and configures the two PCIe Slot slots as one PCIe x16 or two PCIe x8, and the two PCIe Slot slots are connected with the high-speed MCIO connector in the Riser card according to the setting of the PCIe channel in the basic input / output system or the bottom plate management controller. By means of the Riser card, a user can flexibly configure the PCIe Slot slot on the Riser card through a BMC or a BIOS, and the problems that when PCIe devices with different PCIe bandwidths are replaced, the Riser card needs to be replaced, and flexible configuration cannot be achieved are solved; the hardware cost of preparing different Riser cards is reduced, and the corresponding service speed is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the PCIe technical field, and in particular to a flexibly configurable riser card. Background Art

[0002] Riser cards are generally used in servers for PCIe interface transfer. Current general-purpose servers generally support 2 or more Riser cards. Each Riser card provides 3 PCIe slots in a 2U height space and supports 3 single-type PCIeAIC cards.

[0003] With the demand for intelligent computing power, servers need to support dual-width x16 GPU / AI cards. Currently, servers are generally equipped with riser cards according to the configuration before leaving the factory. If the configuration needs to be changed to support GPU cards later, the manufacturer needs to reconfigure the PCIe signal and replace the riser card. This depends on the after-sales service of the whole machine manufacturer, which will inevitably lead to service delays. In addition, the whole machine manufacturer needs to prepare riser cards in case of emergency. The configuration is not flexible enough, which increases time and material costs. Summary of the invention

[0004] The object of the present invention is to provide a flexibly configurable riser card to solve the problems in the background technology.

[0005] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides a flexibly configurable riser card, which supports three PCIe slots and is further provided with a gold finger edge connector and two high-speed MCIO connectors; one PCIe slot is located at the bottom layer and is connected to the Gen-Z connector of the motherboard through the gold finger edge connector; the other two PCIe slots are located at the top layer and the middle layer and are respectively connected to the MCIO socket of the motherboard through two high-speed MCIO connectors;

[0006] The riser card configures two PCIe slots connected to the high-speed MCIO connector in the riser card according to the setting of the PCIe path in the basic input and output system or the baseboard management controller, and configures them as one PCIe x16 or two PCIe x8.

[0007] In one embodiment, the riser card includes a differential multiplexing chip for switching PCIe signals, the differential multiplexing chip supports switching of PCI4.0 high-speed signals, and flexibly configures two PCIe Slots in the riser card into one PCIe x16 or two PCIe x8 channels.

[0008] In one implementation, the sideband signal of the high-speed MCIO connector is used as a switching signal of the differential multiplexing chip. The sideband signal of the high-speed MCIO connector is connected to a programmable logic device of a mainboard through the high-speed MCIO connector. The programmable logic device communicates with a baseboard management controller or a basic input and output system, and switches the PCIe channel according to the user's PCIe controller configuration information.

[0009] In one embodiment, when the server needs to support a double-width PCIe x16 channel GPU card or AI card, the split form of the PCIe controller of the CPU is configured to be x16 through the baseboard management controller or the basic input and output system, and the CPU communicates with the programmable logic device through the LPC bus or the I2C bus, and transmits the PCIe split information to the programmable logic device for communication; at the same time, the programmable logic device communicates and outputs the M-PESTI signal as a high level to the sideband management signal of the high-speed MCIO connector; the sideband management signal of the high-speed MCIO connector is connected to the channel switching signal SEL of the differential multiplexing chip on the riser card, and when the differential multiplexing chip receives the SEL signal as high, it switches the PCIe channel to the top PCIe slot of the riser card, so that the PCIe signals of the two high-speed MCIO connectors form a x16 channel.

[0010] In one embodiment, when the server needs to be configured as 2 x8 channels, the PCIe controller of the CPU is configured to be split into 2*x8 through the baseboard management controller or the basic input and output system, and the CPU communicates with the programmable logic device through the LPC bus or the I2C bus to transmit the PCIe differential information to the programmable logic device; at the same time, the programmable logic device outputs the M-PESTI signal as a low level to the sideband management signal of the high-speed MCIO connector, and the sideband management signal of the high-speed MCIO connector is connected to the channel switching signal SEL of the differential multiplexing chip on the riser card. When the differential multiplexing chip receives the SEL signal as a low level, it switches the PCIe channel to the PCIe slot slot in the middle layer of the riser card, and the PCIe signals of the two high-speed MCIO connectors are respectively connected to the two PCIe slot slots, and each PCIe slot slot supports PCIe x8 channels.

[0011] In one implementation, the PCIe clock signal on the riser card comes from a high-speed MCIO connector. The original high-speed MCIO connector signal definition includes a corresponding clock signal. The motherboard enables the corresponding PCIe clock signal on the motherboard according to the PCIe channel differential configuration information.

[0012] In one implementation, the I2C signal and hot-swap signal of the riser card come from a high-speed MCIO connector, and the original signal definition of the high-speed MCIO connector includes the corresponding I2C signal and hot-swap signal.

[0013] The present invention provides a flexibly configurable riser card, which can be flexibly configured by customers to support 1 PCIe x16 channel slot or 2 PCIe x8 channel slots according to actual needs; there is no need to replace the riser card hardware, which shortens the after-sales service response time. The present invention is mainly aimed at various PCIe riser cards of servers. Generally, a 2U general server will be configured with at least 2 riser cards. After adopting the flexibly configurable riser card of the present invention, users only need to configure the BMC or BIOS to realize the needs for different PCIe channels, without the need for server suppliers to prepare different types of riser card spare parts, saving hardware costs. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] Figure 1 The schematic diagram of the structure of the riser card of the present invention configured as 3 PCIe x8;

[0015] Figure 2 The schematic diagram of the structure of the riser card of the present invention is configured as 1 PCIe x16 + 1 PCIe x8. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0016] The following is a further detailed description of a flexibly configurable riser card proposed by the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. The advantages and features of the present invention will become clearer according to the following description. It should be noted that the accompanying drawings are all in a very simplified form and are not in precise proportions, and are only used to conveniently and clearly assist in explaining the purpose of the embodiments of the present invention.

[0017] like Figure 1 and Figure 2 As shown, the present invention provides a flexibly configurable riser card. The riser card supports 3 PCIeSlot slots, and is also provided with a gold finger edge connector and 2 high-speed MCIO connectors. The gold finger edge connector of the riser card is connected to the motherboard Gen-Z connector, and the PCIe slot signal at the bottom of the riser card comes from the Gen-Z connector of the motherboard, and the PCIe slot cannot be configured. The two PCIe slot signals on the upper right side of the riser card come from two high-speed MCIO connectors respectively, and the PCIe signals of these two PCIe slot slots can be flexibly configured.

[0018] The sideband management signal M-PESTI of the high-speed MCIO connector can be used to communicate between the riser card and the motherboard about the PCIe slot configuration type and PCIe width configuration requirements. When the server needs to support dual-width PCIe x16 channel GPU cards or AI cards, the CPU's PCIe controller is configured to split in x16 form through the BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) or BIOS (Basic Input Output System). The CPU communicates with the CPLD programmable logic device through the LPC bus or I2C bus, and passes the PCIe split information to the CPLD; at the same time, the CPLD outputs the M-PESTI signal as a high level sideband management signal (M-PESTI=H) to the high-speed MCIO connector. The sideband management signal M-PESTI of the high-speed MCIO connector is connected to the channel switching signal SEL of the differential multiplexing chip on the riser card. When the differential multiplexing chip receives the SEL signal as high, it switches the PCIe channel to the top PCIe slot of the riser card, so that the PCIe signals of the two high-speed MCIO connectors form a x16 channel. Figure 2 shown.

[0019] When the server needs to be configured as 2 x8 channels, the PCIe controller of the CPU is configured to split into 2*x8 through the BMC or BIOS. The CPU communicates with the CPLD programmable logic device through the LPC bus or I2C bus, and passes the PCIe differential information to the CPLD. At the same time, the CPLD outputs the M-PESTI signal as a low level to the sideband management signal of the high-speed MCIO connector (M-PESTI=L). The sideband management signal M-PESTI of the high-speed MCIO connector is connected to the channel switching signal SEL of the differential multiplexing chip on the riser card. When the differential multiplexing chip receives the SEL signal as a low level, it switches the PCIe channel to the PCIe slot slot in the middle layer of the riser card. The PCIe signals of the two high-speed MCIO connectors are connected to the two PCIe slot slots respectively. Each PCIe slot slot supports PCIe x8 channels, such as Figure 1 shown.

[0020] In the present invention, the riser card configures the PCIe Slot slot according to the M-PESTI signal, so that the two PCIe Slot slots on the top layer of the riser card are configured as one PCIe x16 channel slot or two PCIe x8 channel slots, thereby realizing flexible configuration of the riser card. The configuration table is shown in Table 1.

[0021] Riser Card PCIeSlot M-PESTI=H M-PESTI=L Upper PCIeSlot PCIe4.0x16 PCIe4.0x8 Mid-level PCIeSlot -- PCIe4.0x8 Lower PCIeSlot PCIe 4.0x16 or PCIe 4.0x8 PCIe 4.0x16 or PCIe 4.0x8

[0022] Table 1: Riser card configuration table

[0023] The present invention provides a flexibly configurable riser card, which is mainly aimed at the change in the demand for PCIe channel bandwidth of the current server, which leads to the need to replace the riser card. By designing a differential multiplexer on the riser card, the PCIe channel signal is switched in conjunction with the setting of the BIOS or BMC, thereby realizing the switching of the PCIe slot signal bandwidth on the riser card. There is no need to replace the riser card, and it can be flexibly configured to support double-width x16 GPU / AI cards, which solves the problem that the current riser card cannot be flexibly configured and the hardware needs to be replaced.

[0024] The above description is only a description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Any changes or modifications made by a person skilled in the art in the field of the present invention based on the above disclosure shall fall within the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A flexibly configurable riser card, characterized in that: Supports three PCIe Slot slots, and is equipped with a gold finger edge connector and two high-speed MCIO connectors; one PCIe Slot slot is located at the bottom layer, connected to the Gen-Z connector of the motherboard through a gold finger edge connector; the other two PCIe Slot slots are located at the top layer and the middle layer, and are connected to the MCIO socket of the motherboard through two high-speed MCIO connectors respectively; The riser card configures two PCIe slots connected to the high-speed MCIO connector in the riser card according to the setting of the PCIe path in the basic input and output system or the baseboard management controller, and configures them as one PCIe x16 or two PCIe x8.

2. The flexibly configurable riser card according to claim 1, characterized in that: The riser card includes a differential multiplexing chip for switching PCIe signals. The differential multiplexing chip supports switching of PCI4.0 high-speed signals and flexibly configures two PCIe Slots in the riser card into one PCIe x16 or two PCIe x8 channels.

3. The flexibly configurable riser card as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that: The sideband signal of the high-speed MCIO connector is used as a switching signal of the differential multiplexing chip. The sideband signal of the high-speed MCIO connector is connected to the programmable logic device of the mainboard through the high-speed MCIO connector. The programmable logic device communicates with the baseboard management controller or the basic input and output system, and switches the PCIe channel according to the user's PCIe controller configuration information.

4. The flexibly configurable riser card as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that: When the server needs to support double-width PCIe x16 channel GPU cards or AI cards, the split form of the PCIe controller of the CPU is configured to be x16 through the baseboard management controller or the basic input and output system, and the CPU communicates with the programmable logic device through the LPC bus or the I2C bus, and transmits the PCIe split information to the programmable logic device for communication; at the same time, the programmable logic device communicates and outputs the M-PESTI signal as a high level to the sideband management signal of the high-speed MCIO connector; the sideband management signal of the high-speed MCIO connector is connected to the channel switching signal SEL of the differential multiplexing chip on the riser card, and when the differential multiplexing chip receives the SEL signal as high, it switches the PCIe channel to the PCIe slot slot on the top layer of the riser card, so that the PCIe signals of the two high-speed MCIO connectors form a x16 channel.

5. The flexibly configurable riser card as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that: When the server needs to be configured as 2 x8 channels, the PCIe controller of the CPU is configured to be split into 2*x8 through the baseboard management controller or the basic input and output system. The CPU communicates with the programmable logic device through the LPC bus or the I2C bus to transmit the PCIe differential information to the programmable logic device; at the same time, the programmable logic device outputs the M-PESTI signal as a low level to the sideband management signal of the high-speed MCIO connector, and the sideband management signal of the high-speed MCIO connector is connected to the channel switching signal SEL of the differential multiplexing chip on the riser card. When the differential multiplexing chip receives the SEL signal as a low level, it switches the PCIe channel to the PCIeslot slot in the middle layer of the riser card, and the PCIe signals of the two high-speed MCIO connectors are respectively connected to the two PCIe slot slots, and each PCIe slot slot supports PCIe x8 channels.

6. The flexibly configurable riser card according to claim 1, characterized in that: The PCIe clock signal on the riser card comes from the high-speed MCIO connector. The original high-speed MCIO connector signal definition has a corresponding clock signal. The mainboard enables the corresponding PCIe clock signal on the mainboard according to the PCIe channel differential configuration information.

7. The flexibly configurable riser card according to claim 1, characterized in that: The I2C signal and hot-plug signal of the riser card come from the high-speed MCIO connector, and the original signal definition of the high-speed MCIO connector includes the corresponding I2C signal and hot-plug signal.

Images